Used Prijon Barracuda, in tough rotomold. Fastest, tippiest rotomold sea kayak I ever paddled. Ruddered.
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If you are patient, you can have a ruddered QCC700 for under 1500. Great straight line go fast boat with good gear capacity for camping. Adequate stability for conditions. Epic 18x is probably a touch faster in the right hands, but higher priced on the used market. Buy your new used boat in late summer/early fall, and sell any boats you wish to downsize in late spring/early summer if overall budget is a major factor
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The important question about the right boat remains! Do you want a fast boat or figure out how to make the one you own go faster? If you beat everybody using your faster boat, will you have a reason to keep trying to improve? You can always buy a “faster” boat, if you want to win.
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Good point, since Josh has only done one race. If he tries some other kayaks or goes on different kinds of paddle outings, he might fall in love with a different aspect of kayaking. It would be smart to get a kayak that does well with the other things he mentioned.
Yes, the roto Barracuda fits multiple purposes. Good luck finding one, though.
Thanks, not familiar with QCC, I appreciate the recommendation.
I want a much faster boat so I can have more fun solo, covering more distance, and being challenged inbetween my whitewater trips. The races are a fun way to socialize with other paddlers and motivate myself to push just a little bit harder than I would solo. The dagger blackwater is fine for slow sight seeing and beer drinking but I want something that will reward good technique.
Longer is necessary then. You are very near peak output in the 14 ft boat.
My kind of travel !! Yes ! I haven’t done the Everglades or Casco.
To expand on the Colorado River a bit. Several times I launched from Lees Ferry and paddled the 15 miles up into the remnant of Glen Canyon below Glen Canyon Dam. Nicest camp site is a Mile 9 (measured from Lees). No permit required!
Always managed to wing-paddle power up the few riffles. Page 75 - 77 in Belknap’s Waterproof Canyonlands River Guide. MM
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Done Green River, WY to Green River UT twice. Dinosaur just once, Deso/ Gray 5 times now, (Wanna go again) The Colorado twice or more from Moab to Lake Havasu City The Grand Canyon just once. And then Missouri through the Breaks 3 times, San Juan once. Then bunches of stuff East… Ontario, Michigan, Your list sounded so much like mine. Paddle and camp, grab what permits you can when needed.
Have you done the Green south from Green River, Utah? Labyrinth and Stillwater Canyons? Great stretch and pretty flat. (3 Class Is and one Class II) 10 days to 2 weeks of heaven.
My first desert river trip was Green River, UT to Confluence and up to Moab - March 2003. Then Mineral Bottom to Confluence and back up in Oct 2007. Several multi-day camps at Swaseys Raids with work-out paddles up to Nefertiti. Just one three night solo in Deso-Gray.
In about 1990 our top ICF Wild Water paddler told me about all winter paddling on the Yellowstone River at Livingston, MT; and that upriver dodging rocks and catching rest spots below them was the best way to learn boat control. No longer possible to circle 9th Street/Siebeck Island except at spring high water. Pull up Google Earth satellite view and look at channel changes over last years 15 years upstream to Carters Bridge. MM
MontanaMike, how do you tour in a West Side EFT? I don’t see hatches for the gear in pics. The new tour boat by West Side is the Delta and I see no hatches on it either.
The Doug Bushnell late 90’s EFT has a stern hatch and a water-tight bulkhead just far enough behind the seat (that I removed, and have since Finlandia '93) for a plastic Port-a-Potty (13x8.5x7.5 inches) which are required on most western rivers. The only other modification was to reverse the tiller bar mounting bracket to gain an inch of clearance for pushing my tapered tent bag (not waterproof) far into the bow - with a six foot lanyard tied to a sponge for retrieval. Do have a slot cut into the port bolt hole of the foot-bar to swing it aside during load/unload. A tightly rolled air pad w/lanyard is stuffed clear back to the stern, then sleeping bag with 7 compression straps. A 10x14x7 inch flexible plastic tub for food fits against the bulkhead with room on each end for a horizontally stowed MSR fuel bottle. Drinking water is the limiting factor in desert river kayak camping. With two MSR 10L Dromedary bags, I could carry canned food and be totally self-contained for a week without worrying about the pump filter silting up. The weight of canned food was not a factor - if it fits, it goes. Never weighed it, but the boat would easily do 4 mph with about the same amount of effort as walking. MM
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Winonah bought out QCC and has since discontinued the brand. It’s a shame because they were great boats and had great service. My wife has a QCC 600X and a couple of friends have QCC 700s. I always said that if I broke my Necky Arluk 1.9 I would buy a QCC 700. The QCC is fast and tracks straight. Great for covering distance in all kinds of conditions. For a while it was a great race boat, but has been overtaken by surf skis.
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West Side boats are all custom-made and hatches can be put on most any of them.
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